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Link to the complete AMA Style guide

The AMA Manual of Style guides those seeking to publish research findings and anyone involved in medical, health, or scientific writing and publishing.

Written by an expert committee of JAMA Network editors, this 11th edition thoroughly covers ethical and legal issues, authorship, conflicts of interest, scientific misconduct, intellectual property, and the preparation of articles for publication, style, terminology, measurement, and quantification.

 

General Rules from the 11th Edition

References
  • Found at the end of a manuscript.
  • Titled “References.” 
  • Single-Space.
  • Each item should be listed in numerical order.
  • Use all authors' names unless there are more than 6 authors. In that case, list the names of the initial 3 authors, followed by "et al." in place of the others.
  • Include the authors' last name and first and middle initials without punctuation. However, do use a comma to separate more than one author in a single bibliographic group (e.g., Wheeler T, Watkins PJ)
  • Two references should not be combined under a single reference number) as opposed to alphabetically.
  • When a DOI is available, the AMA recommends using it instead of a URL.

  • DOI, omit the URL, access date, and publication date. Add the DOI (preceded by "doi:") in place of this information. The rest of the citation should remain the same.

  • The basic format when referencing an article in an online journal (including databases) is as follows:

    • AuthorLastname FirstInitialMiddleInitial. The title is written in sentence case. Journal Name. Year; vol(issue no.): inclusive pages. doi:######. Date accessed only if DOI is unavailable. URL only if DOI is unavailable.

  • Website format in this order: 

    • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​AuthorLastname FirstInitialMiddleInitial or the name of the group. Title of the specific item cited (if none is given, use the name of the organization responsible for the site). Name of the website. Date published. Updated date. Accessed date. URL [provide URL and verify that the link works as closely as possible to publication].

References Examples

References 

1.  Wheeler T, Watkins PJ. Cardiac denervation in diabetes. BMJ. 1973;4:584-586.

2. O'Keefe M, Coat S. Consulting parents on childhood obesity and implications for medical student learning. J Paediatr Child Health. 2009;45(10):573-576.

3. Author(s). Title. Journal Name. Year; vol(issue no.): inclusive pages. doi:10.0000000/000000000000

4. Drake AJ, Smith A, Betts PR, et al. Type 2 diabetes in obese white children. Arch Dis Child. 2002;86(3):207-208. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11861246. Accessed April 5, 2015.

5. Why Immunize? cdc.gov. Updated September 23, 2014. Accessed April 7, 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/why.htm.

In-Text Citations
  • Each reference should be cited in the text using superscript Arabic numerals.
  • These superscript numbers should be outside periods and commas but inside colons and semicolons.
  • Multiple references may be cited in the same instance.
  • If you cite sequential references, these should be indicated with a hyphen.
  • Nonsequential references should be separated with commas. There should not be a space between numbers.

For example: 

As Smith et al. have reported,1-3,5

Smith et al. reported1-3,5:

Parenthetical citations

  • It should ONLY be used for items not in the references list, such as unpublished material, personal communications, and news articles.

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